Damp Motion

Airpot’s pneumatic damping products are specifically designed to provide unparalleled damping and energy dissipation accuracy by eliminating friction from the working elements. The materials used have built-in lubricity, high strength-to-weight ratio, excellent stability under temperature / humidity extremes, close coefficients of thermal expansion, and non-deteriorating performance due to age or non-use. The basic parts are a graphitized carbon piston, precision ground to millionths of an inch TIR inside an annealed, borosilicate glass cylinder with a precision fire-polished bore.

The Airpot Dashpot  and Airpot Snubber cover a wide range of applications in which accurate control of motion, force and impact is required. The devices accomplish this by using the piston to force ambient air through an adjustable orifice at a controlled rate to dissipate kinetic energy.

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Airpot Dashpot

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Airpot Snubber

They prevent damage and violent or inaccurate response caused by shock and vibration in sensitive equipment and components, reduce impact noise and wear, provide simple, low cost, adjustable speed control without external power, and allow non-electrical timing capability. Their most common uses are as a spring damping device for velocity control, a vibration damper for oscillating masses, a solenoid damper to reduce impact force and noise, and an end-of-stroke shock absorber.

velocity control solenoids
Velocity Control of Solenoids
It is often desirable to slow down a solenoid to avoid a crash or high impact on closure. The Airpot tunes the solenoid to obtain…
velocity control spring loaded
Velocity Control of Spring Loaded Mechanisms
Springs provide motive force to a mass at the expense of continuously increasing velocity. Airpot damping develops an opposing force to limit this velocity to…
velocity control falling mass
Velocity Control of Falling Mass
Machine designs commonly require damping a falling mass to prevent damage, noise, or shock, or to impart a desired time delay to the action. Airpot…
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Creating Time Delay
Airpot offers reliable timing control for non-electrical systems and for electrical systems requiring non-electrical backup. Application Examples In a commercial sprinkler system a pull damping…
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Vibration Damping
Dashpot damping is one of the simplest ways of eliminating vibration. The Airpot dashpot excels in providing a high ratio of damping-to-friction force. Application Examples…
oscillating valve damping
Oscillating Valve Damping
Poppet and check valves can naturally resonate, causing unwanted noise, pressure/flow fluctuations, or wear. These problems can be eliminated by precise damping. Application Examples In…
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Limiting Overaction
Many instruments are susceptible to random pulses and surges, which can lead to harmful, over-range conditions. The Airpot is velocity sensitive and resists these surges,…
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Cushioning Impact
When controlled deceleration is required at the end of the stroke of your mechanism, the Airpot snubber configuration is particularly useful. It performs push damping…

When choosing an Airpot damper for accurate pneumatic control of force and motion here are the primary functional differences to consider:

Dashpots:

  • Connected throughout the stroke to the damped mass
  • One or two way damping (push and pull)
  • Easily customized
  • Primary functions are accurate force or velocity control, vibration damper and oscillation stabilizer.

Snubbers, (pneumatic shock absorbers):

  • Not connected to the mass they are damping
  • Primary function is energy dissipation
  • Used in accurate end-of-stroke shock absorbtion applications
  • One way damping only, (damp in compression)
  • Low force return spring for self resetting
For more information on our motion damping devices, contact us today!  We are the leading manufacturer of pneumatic damping devices so see us first for your dashpot and snubber needs.